Stay in Disney’s Polynesian Resort if you can afford it, or at Disney’s Pop Century Resort if you are on a tight budget.
(Note: only 5 people can stay in one room at the Polynesian, and only 4 at Pop Century. If your family is too large for a single room, see Special Circumstances.)
STAY AT A WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT
You should stay at an official Walt Disney World Resort, as doing gives you special privileges that your itinerary takes advantage of.
- One is the Disney Dining Plan, which will save you a lot of money. (See How to Eat.)
- More importantly, Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests can take advantage of Extra Magic Hours, which means that at certain parks on certain days, they can enter an hour earlier than everyone else, or stay three hours later than other guests
Your itinerary has you using Extra Magic Hours three times:
- You will be entering Disney’s Animal Kingdom an hour early, as doing so means you will see the animals there at their most active
- You also will be taking advantage of late Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot because staying late lets you enjoy the park-closing fireworks shows Fantasmic at the Studios and Illuminations at Epcot without having to leave the park as soon as these shows end. This lets you avoid the massive jams that occur at these moments.
CRITERIA FOR PICKING AMONG RESORTS
I select from among the 24 (soon to be 25) possible Walt Disney World Resorts based on two criteria:
- Appeal to kids (for obvious reasons) and
- Transportation convenience, because of all the trips you will be making back and forth from your resort to the various parks, attractions and shows.
KID APPEAL
Kid appeal is principally visual, and it means whether the look of a resort has features that speak to kids of whimsy, playfulness, and adventure, signalling that that this resort was designed for them! (And not necessarily for their parents!!)
The resorts with kid appeal are, in order
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge,
- (Near-tie with #1) Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge,
- Disney’s Polynesian Resort, and then, all tied for fourth place,
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort, and Disney’s All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, and All-Star Movies Resorts.
Excluding the Disney Vacation Club resorts the Villas at Wilderness Lodge and the Villas at Animal Kingdom Lodge, none of the other resorts has enduring, whimsical kid appeal. See this for more on kid appeal.
CONVENIENCE
These resorts noted above with kid appeal break into two categories.
- The first 3 are classified by Walt Disney World as “Deluxe” resorts, and
- The ones tied for fourth place are classified by Disney as “Value” resorts
(See this for details on what you get in each resort category.) Because the price difference between these categories is so high, separate hotels are recommended within each of the two categories. (Other categories exist, but are not recommended for first-time visitors–See Where Not to Stay for why.)
(This discussion of where to stay continues on this page.)
LINKS FOR WHERE TO STAY
- For where to stay, see this
- For your next best choices, in order, see this
- For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
- For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
- For what you get in each resort price category, see this
- For where not to stay, see this
- For differences among deluxe resorts, see this
- For differences among moderate resorts, see this
- For differences among value resorts, see this
- For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this
- Large families should look at this
- Military/DOD families should look at this
